CHI-RAQ, from Spike Lee and Roadside Attractions, presents a poignant, and unfortunately timely, tale on gun violence using Chicago’s South Side as ground zero in America’s newest internal war, a deadly plague, which daily and indiscriminately kills.

CHI-RAQ opens with a voice over introduction, in rap, of the current gun violence and killings compared to deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and over the same time period the deaths on the Southside outnumber almost double the lives lost in combat, hence the name CHI-RAQ. Welcome to the new frontier.

As CHI-RAQ cuts away from the rap intro, Samuel L. Jackson appears as Dolmedes, who continually breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience. His rhyming storyline acts as a segway into the next scenes. CHI-RAQ is completed in verse, and based on Aristophanes’ Greek satirical masterpiece “Lysistrata,” written more than 2,500 years ago.

The film cuts to the club, were a heavily tattooed Demtrius “CHI-RAQ” Dupree, played convincingly by Nick Cannon, is taking the stage, rapping to the crowd about the reign of the Spartans, when shooters open up and once again, gun violence takes over.

CHI-RAQ presents a raw, honest, picture of life, every day, in many cities across America. The Southside is where this gang life was vividly portrayed and with the rise in gang and gun violence the battle ground where the message rang most true.

Teyonah Parris who plays the modern Lysistrata, opposite Nick Cannon’s CHI-RAQ, is vivid and fills the screen with her presence.

Life is a daily war between the gangs, in this case The Trojans lead by Wesley Snipes, Cyclops, and The Spartans, and caught in between the gangs and the bullets are the innocent, the hopeful and the church.

Angela Basset graces the screen as Ms. Helen, the next door neighbor to Lysistrata, and the first person to understand the violence that is ripping apart the neighborhood. Where Lysistrata lives in the naïve world of love will conquer all and her man, CHI-RAQ, will one day change, the sad reality is that he is more likely to be killed and she the witness to his funeral.

Hope continues to dim as a child, another child, a seven year old, Patti, is caught in the cross fire and again killed by a stray bullet. Jennifer Hudson plays Irene, Patti’s mother, and irreparably wounded by the murder of her child becomes another voice in the wilderness calling for change. Her performance was resonating and moving as she cleaned her child’s blood from the street, her tears, water and blood mixing again.

The funeral brings the neighborhood together, with John Cusack as Father Mike Corridan, and honestly, having attended “church” in my life, the performance captured the truth. Without having been a preacher he had the “voice” and not the tele-evangelist voice that often overshadows, negates or creates mockery. Most genuine preachers don’t find their voice for some time. I was impressed at his performance.

With the church important in the black community it was important for the films credibility to have in that pivotal role someone who could present it with authenticity.

Of course, no film from Spike Lee would be complete if it weren’t brutally truthful. CHI-RAQ presents more than the frightening life of gangland living, which to some, is living it also presents the loving, which is intensely presented.

After these heightened moments hit the audience, the film settles into the Second Act, which is the Sex Strike. Led by Ms.Helen and Lysistrata, the women of the neighborhood decide the only way to end the gangland violence is to, in proper terms squeeze the men through sectorial sanctions, in other words “No Peace, No Pussy,” starving them of the one thing the men want more than guns or money.

CHI-RAQ is obviously a film where raw, candid and graphic language of life, outside of what some consider reality, is truthfully presented.

The Second Act of CHI-RAQ becomes about the Sex Strike with various peak measurements of sexual depravations popping up as the women were able to hold out for three months; the men however were not handling the pressure as well and were willing to resort to rape to get the women back in line.

Intermittently Spike presents life, after the shooting, stuck in a wheel chair, unable to walk, paralyzed with colostomy bags, unable to stand, having to wear diapers and the psychological weight of truly, genuinely believing, that the odds of them living until they are 20 are slim.

CHI-RAQ is a solid winner for Spike Lee. He has, once again, brought his brand of filmmaking into a community that has no choice but to accept his vision in reality is an authentic depiction of life.

Spike Lee is a brilliant director. If you are interested in life in killadelphia, or CHI-RAQ, South Central or any of the many inner cities that erupt into the real frontier

Haute Tease

The DOW Jones Industrial Average, along with the top ten most watched global markets, fell to the bear over the past week with residuals tremors hitting strongly throughout the Pacific Asian Rim strongly hitting the global markets.

The DOW Jones Industrial Average rallied throughout the week, as did the top ten watched markets with nearly all managing to maintain the Bull Run and with the bear out of sight, earned solid gains across the board.

The White Crow, from Sony Picture Classics and BBC Films, presents the story of Rudolf Nureyev, weaving his early childhood, dedicated and all-consuming training, his triumphant debut at the Palais Garnier, and his defection to the West.

Most of the time, people return products because they’re unhappy with their experience. Maybe the memory foam mattress got too hot, the bicycle seat wasn’t comfortable or the TV proved too big for the living room. And perhaps that pricey hot tub simply wasn’t worth the three paychecks, after all.

HYENA, from Film 4 and Number 9 Films, presents, an explosive tale of police corruption with vivid, realistic and stunning depiction as the detectives delve deeper into the world of corruption, crime and the Turkish/Afghan Drug trade.

Marijuana legalization has been a political issue in the United States for some time, and while it remains illegal in most states, others have softened their stance in recent years with Colorado and Washington leading the way.

For paleontologists The Badlands of North and South Dakota have again reveled their richness with the recent discovery of a 65million year-old Triceratops Skull by California college student Harrison Duran, 23, an amateur fossil excavator on a summer internship.

Under the high patronage of His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco, ONLY WATCH 2011 and Westime Beverly Hills recently previewed time pieces from forty of the world’s most exclusive jewelers at an invitation only cocktail reception.

Finn Wittrock, who plays Nate the alluring former high school sweetheart and seducer of Dana, in the upcoming film Landline, starring John Turturro, Edie Falco, Jenny Slate and Abby Quinn, who is going through a commitment crisis.

“La Cucina”, starring Rachel Hunter, Christine Hendricks and Joaquim de Almeida and directed by Alison Hebble, deals with the relationship complexities of three different couples and how they cope with the reality of impending events.

The Painter's Wedding, from author Kristy Rice and Schiffer Publishing, brings to the pages a fresh take on the world of wedding themes, from decorations to invitations, with inspirations drawn from great master painters and their significant work.

"The Giver" the sci-fi fantasy, from The Weinstein Company and Walden Entertainment, presents an oddly intriguing, unusually entertaining futuristic journey whose hopes for a better future depend on the ability to survive the revelations of the past.

The resignation of Michael Flynn, the newly appointed National Security Adviser, in reality, is probably the only move recommended by the Trump Administration that reminds the world that even in Trumpland some old school rules still apply.